Into Darkness
by FanBonez
Summary: The shadow of war descends upon Hyrule once again. The Usurper King has transformed his own people into hideous abominations, and left their princess in the body of an imp. A Hero has been chosen, and now he and the Twilight Princess must fight to save both Hyrule and the Twilight Realm.


**Prologue**

**A Legend Begins**

Hyrule, a land of ancient legend and old magic. Many legends are told in this land, not all are true, but many are as true as one can be. Details are lost or misinterpreted over the course of time, leading to the loss of these great tales.

One legend sticks out among all others, one that has proven to be true time and again, this legend is central to most others told in this land; the Legend of the Three. It tells of an ancient conflict between those Chosen by the Gods; the Dark One, the Princess, and the Hero. A cycle repeating century after century.

It started millennia ago, when the Goddess's Hero slew the Demon King Demise, the King swore to the Hero that his hatred would be reborn as a being to pursue domination of the world, locked in an eternal battle with those with the blood of the goddess.

This vague threat had unknown meaning to the Hero, and over the next few centuries, it began to fade from history. By the time his words were fulfilled, it was all but forgotten.

A man known as Ganondorf came from the desert under the guise of making peace between his people and those of Hyrule. His true plan was to take control of the kingdom and enter the Sacred Realm, the resting place of the Goddess's Golden Power, the Triforce.

Ganondorf did not succeed in his quest, when a young boy was able to find out of his plan to overthrow the kingdom. Some say this young boy was the reincarnated Hero, and some even claim he came from the future with knowledge of Ganondorf's plot. Most would dismiss such claims, if not for his strange title, the Hero of Time.

This strange boy then vanished from the land, never to be heard from again, some claim he died searching for something, while others say he never went by his own alias again, but none know the truth.

Our story begins centuries after Ganondorf's failed coup, with a young farm boy with no knowledge of his true heritage or destiny.

The spring's water flowed ever so slowly, making a clamming sound as two sat on its edge. One was a young man, a Hylian with pointed ears, the other an older man, a human with rounded ears.

"Tell me..." the older man spoke, "Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?"

The young man thought on this for a moment, "A little, yeah, but I've never really noticed it before," he replied to the older man's strange question.

"They say it's the only time when our world intersects with theirs..." the older man continued, as the farm boy listened intently, "The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world."

The young man looked back at the spring, now acutely feeling the sadness that the older man was talking about, never before had he truly noticed it. "That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight."

"Not that I don't appreciate stories of loneliness and sadness, but why bring this up Rusl?" The young man asked. Rusl chuckled, "Just something I've been thinking on for awhile now, but enough talk of sadness. I have a favor to ask of you, Link."

The young man looked away from the spring back to Rusl, "Whatever it is, I'll do my best." he replied with a note of confidence. Rusl chuckled again, "I'm sure you will. I was supposed to deliver something to the royal family of Hyrule the day after tomorrow, for Princess Zelda's coronation as Queen."

"Did the mayor give you this task?" Link asked, "Yes, it was, but will you go in my stead?" Rusl replied.

"Of course I will, it will be my first chance to see the world outside our village, like you have." Link could barely contain his excitement.

Rusl smiled at the young man, who he had considered his own son since he stumbled into Ordon Village many years ago, lost and with no recollection of his family or life before hand. The only thing he knew was that his name was Link. Rusl had watched that young boy grow into the man next to him, but he was still but a boy, he figured it was time to give him a taste of the life he always craved. He craved a life of adventure, not for the fame or fortune, but for the adventure itself.

"And see it you shall," Rusl told Link, chuckling once again, "I'll inform the mayor tonight and you will take the journey the day after next."

"Thank you for this Rusl, truly, I will never be able to repay you for this chance."

"Don't worry about it my boy, but it is getting late. We should head back to the village."

**A/N: Thank you all for checking out my story, and an extra thank you if you review. This is my first true fanfiction story, so any constructive criticism is welcomed. I hope to get into some sort of schedule of writing, but at the moment, the chapters will be posted when they're done. Also, most chapters will be longer than this, but I needed a short set up to get the story going. Thank you all again, and I'll see you again when I post up Chapter 1.**

**-FanBonez**


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